It's been a few weeks since my last post. Last week was crazy busy. Our weeks are normally pretty lively (at least compared to what we're used to), but last week was busy times two. It left me little time to contemplate life long enough to write about it or take pictures of it, only enough time to recover from one activity in time to prepare for the next. And so, I was forced, thankfully, to revisit the idea of Stay & Play Days. I got the idea over a year ago from my friend Jodi, who started this tradition with her family.
The basic idea of Stay & Play is pretty simple: we stay home and play. For me, it is a day that is completely unscheduled, laid back, and mostly child-led. I may have some chores to do, but it's usually something like laundry or dishes that is hands-on for just a few minutes, and then I can walk away.
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| YouTube crash test videos...who needs PBS Kids when you've got YouTube? |
For example, last week on Thursday morning, Tommy woke up at 6:30am (way earlier than usual for him). No problem. I got him up, and we watched crash test videos on YouTube for the better part of an hour. Then we made breakfast together. By the time Ben wandered into the kitchen around 8:30am, Tommy and I had spent some great quality time together. And then we ate pancakes for breakfast. After breakfast we flew paper airplanes back and forth to each other for about thirty minutes. Why? Because I didn't have anything else to do!
Thursday morning has become an oasis where I know that I don't have to prepare for anything, get dressed for anything, cook for anything, or clean for anything. I just hang out with my kids do things that they like to do. I look forward to Thursday all through the week. So when my little guy looks at me with his big blue eyes and says, "Mommy, can you fly airplanes with me?" I can say "Sure, buddy!" with a clear conscience and not have to put a time limit on our fun.
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Enjoying a puddle on our morning walk
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| Flying the Lego car we built together this morning |
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| Quietly contemplating his new Lego car |
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| Building a Duplo fortress |
Just love it, Autumn!
ReplyDeleteI love at-home days. Ours is Tuesday. I was reluctant to sign Angelina up for ballet because it meant another morning where I had to be somewhere. I need to find a new class for her because I need Friday mornings back because I end up carrying housework into the weekend otherwise.
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